Do You Waive the Assessment Fee if a Customer Agrees to Your Service?

[KK_KK]

If we do a network assessment of a business, the first hour is free.

Assessment for potential clients include speaking with the client regarding their needs and woes, noting all workstations, servers, phones, printers/copiers/scanners, network devices (switches, router, modem, load balancers, firewall, etc.), number of users (onsite/remote), applications and software, A/V, backup, etc. etc.

Never have we encountered an assessment that lasted for only an hour whether its a business of 2-5 employees or 10, 20+ employees.
People seem to talk up a storm and go on and on about all the issues, problems, previous IT, their puppy named "Bonnie," or their turtle that has a weird discoloration on its shell, and about their marriage, kids, sports... which just adds to the billable time.

 

[Abramsgunner]

In general....

$45 bench fee for diagnosis if you don't let me fix it. (Unless I can look at it and tell you it's not worth fixing)

$98/hr billed in 15 minute blocks to fix in-shop

$98/hr billed in 15 minute blocks for remote support.

$98/hr - $125/hr on-site repair, minimum 1 hr + 15 minute blocks. ($98/hr for grunt work, $125/hr for server or firewall)

Travel time is billed at $45/hr... I usually don't bother if I spend less than an hour in the truck, or can string multiple customers together.

We mostly work on businesses within a 50 mile radius.

 

[CaliZ]

If we do a network assessment of a business, the first hour is free.

Assessment for potential clients include speaking with the client regarding their needs and woes, noting all workstations, servers, phones, printers/copiers/scanners, network devices (switches, router, modem, load balancers, firewall, etc.), number of users (onsite/remote), applications and software, A/V, backup, etc. etc.

Never have we encountered an assessment that lasted for only an hour whether its a business of 2-5 employees or 10, 20+ employees.
People seem to talk up a storm and go on and on about all the issues, problems, previous IT, their puppy named "Bonnie," or their turtle that has a weird discoloration on its shell, and about their marriage, kids, sports... which just adds to the billable time.

Do you just inform the customer, "Ok, your hour is up and I'm charging now?" or that you must be charging out as a project then, right? We do free travel charge to anywhere within our city (Usually anywhere accessible within an hour drive), but charge from the time we are there till done. (Min. 1 Hour on site calls)

 

[KK_KK]

Do you just inform the customer, "Ok, your hour is up and I'm charging now?" or that you must be charging out as a project then, right? We do free travel charge to anywhere within our city (Usually anywhere accessible within an hour drive), but charge from the time we are there till done. (Min. 1 Hour on site calls)

Upfront, I let them know that the first hour is free. If it goes above a few minutes, I do not charge.
Their time as well as mine is precious and I am there to work, not play.

Just the other day, I spent 1.5 hrs. doing scans and "alleviating" some slowness on someone's laptop (in-person). I'm not going to charge them 1.5 hrs. just waiting on a scan to complete on a 6 yr. old laptop and cleaning it up afterwards; total time actually spent clicking the mouse: 15 minutes. I only charged an hour because I hardly did anything and I had an enjoyable conversation.

The point is, use your judgement. There is always leeway and don't be a stickler. Just be sure to let them know that as a courtesy you are capping the price even though you spent a certain number of minutes/hours there. Avoid using terms such as, "discount, free, sale, cheap, etc." Don't lower your standards, don't give them a reason to call you out for another discount, and you definitely don't want them to perceive you as cheap or a bargain.

 

[ChrisB009]

If I gain a new prospective client I do not charge an assessment fee. I review their core product, their processes, systems, telephony, etc.. In other words I review the entire business model. I make recommendations on where the business can save money not simply provide an over inflated technical review of their systems. This can gain a client for life where as a simple paid technical review can be performed by any technically apt person.